Ace Combat 7: White Talons, Triple Strikes, and a Reaper's Wings
by Hunter Dracon
Summary: Three Strikes was never alone. She had a companion. A man with remarkable skill, and a knack for making older aircraft stand up and beg, as well as an affinity for using only guns against overwhelming forces. A nightmare of the skies. Where Three Strikes is an eagle. He is an avenging angel. An Angel Of Death.
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter One: A Devil's Wings_

**_A/N:_this story is partially inspired by MontyMarten's Ace Combat 7: Three Strikes, and i'm not entirely sticking to the lore with this, as always. i mean, i'll stick to the primary lore when it comes to the story, but with more focus on character development and making the story more interesting than just the game's storyline. This story focuses more on my character's perspective of the events in the game and before, as well as even further stuff.I might make a story branching off into a crossover at a certain point, cause futzing with alternate timelines and alternate realities is fun. But most of the focus will be on My own OC, not the one I created for Trigger. Chapter two is already in the works.**

"_Though I fly through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil." _

"_For I am at 80,000 feet and climbing."_

_This is the phrase painted/stenciled under the cockpit of the plane with the three strikes. _

_A young woman with a legacy._

_An individual known for her unyielding skill in the deep blue sky._

_An individual who survived by killing in a war._

_But was a prisoner to a murder she did not commit._

_She's known as "The Pilot With The Three Strikes."_

_But she has a friend._

_A friend with the same quote._

_He was the first of the two to paint it on his plane._

_A man renowned for his own ruthlessness._

_They call him "The Angel of Death"_

Engines roared at full afterburner as fighters crisscrossed through the sky. One fighter in particular, a modified F-4E with canards mounted on the engine intakes- an airframe style only given to a demonstrator reconnaissance Phantom rather than an actual combat fighter version- was heavily significant, was seen in flight. The damn thing behaved like a totally different plane, and that's only with canards and a minor engine upgrade package. What really made it stand out was the pilot. A minor legend in the service, the young man had broken or tied nearly all the records in the simulators with a close second on the others.

The pilot, known to his enemies as Shade and his allies as Siren. His enemies knew him as Shade because he had the habit of sneaking up on his enemies, trailing in the disturbances created by their engines, not to mention a habit of hiding deep in the clouds until he came upon the enemy. His allies called him Siren because he liked to sing to himself and his squadron before flying, making them relax and taking the edge off; not to mention that he stuck some speakers into the cockpit of his plane that he used to play music with his phone. This is another reason why he never made even a peep while in an engagement, he kept his microphone muted the entire fight for the most part, but he still hummed when he enjoyed himself, and swore like a sailor out of hell; flew like a bat out of hell too.

His wingman, wing_woman_ actually, was a girl who was her own minor legend. After getting themselves in advanced training programs due to their scores and records, they became best friends. Her callsign was Trigger. Her real name was Elise Victor Nightshade. Her story was that of an old aviation family whereas Skylar didn't talk about his. Her father was a pilot who fought in the Belkan war, a mercenary for the Belkans. Not much is known about him, except that he did face Galm Team and lived to tell the tale. Now ordinarily this would be a problem, but her father defected from the Belkan military long before the war was over and headed to Osea, where he started a family. There he raised her to respect the pilots who flew for their countries, and even the ones who did not fly for any specific country. She did her best to become qualified to be a fighter pilot, and succeeded. After basic training, and officer's training, she entered flight school and began breaking records of her own at her school. Once that was done, the advanced training program came, where she met Skylar.

Having heard rumors of a pilot that rivaled her in the number of records broken and a reputation as a brilliant pilot that had a massive lone wolf attitude, she expected someone more rugged than he actually was. In reality, Skylar was rugged, but not to the extent that she'd expected. He was more casual, and his love of music was something she never expected. He worked on his own aircraft, and the ground crews had figured out by now that he did a better job of maintaining his aircraft than they did. Not to mention that his F-4E Phantom II was probably the oldest aircraft next to his spare, which was an even older F-8E Crusader that he really only flew for joyrides. He had yet to bring it out in a mock dogfight. Several students in the advanced program had challenged him to do so and he brushed it off with the statement: "If I fly that thing instead of my Phantom, I'll run you into the ground," was what he would say with a chuckle.

Then he'd walk away with a wave. Nobody liked to fly in the backseat of his Phantom, and that was fine with him, considering he'd long since modified the aircraft for flight just by him. His backseat was now a stereo system, and since he'd been able to shift the position of his seat backward a bit, the cockpit was much more comfortable than any other Phantom.

Suffice it to say, Skylar had beat more instructors in dogfights, hell even against their squadrons too, much more than Trigger had. And some of them had actually encountered him in his Crusader, and they shuddered at the thought of facing it again. Some told stories about it, saying that if he was a demon in his Phantom, he was the devil himself in his Crusader, which would explain why he didn't bring it out all that often. Trigger once caught a glimpse of Skylar's Crusader, which sat in the same hangar as his Phantom, just way in the back with it's wings folded up and under a large tarp that hid it from view. He had yet to fly it in full view of her, so it came as a surprise to her when she saw a black and silver F-8E Crusader with a pair of fins set much like they can be on the B-1B and a similar set of fins on the wingtips and the tip of the Crusader's slightly-shorter-than-normal vertical tail fin. Then it slipped out onto the runway like a ghost and checked it's control surfaces before it lit it's afterburner with the loud thud that the Crusader has ever been famous for when it lit it's afterburner, and screamed down the airstrip and into the air. The Mach cone was already forming by the time it was in the air and it only took another split second after it had raised it's landing gear for the mach cone to fold back and the boom to reach Trigger's ears.

The Crusader didn't pitch up, instead, it went lower, skimming the treetops with it's upgraded speed and modern engine, flying at just over Mach 2. The story Trigger was told from the control tower personnel was that Skylar had been challenged by a rival school for a small tournament against all their top pilots. He returned twelve hours later and performed a victory roll over the school before landing. Many of the pilots, including Trigger, came out to greet him. He had all of the flight data on a flash drive, showing the maneuvers he'd made. But he'd only showed those to the brass and his instructors. Skylar then offered to fly a joyride with Trigger that evening after meeting with his instructors. That was when she discovered that there were just some planes that Skylar could make sit up and beg.

.Let's fly.

Skylar sighed in the cockpit of his Crusader. Trigger flew just off his right wing in her F-16 Falcon. To any outside observer it would look odd to have such an old aircraft flying right next to a much newer, but still old, design. Skylar's Crusader had a special canopy in addition to all of it's other modifications, providing much better visibility than the average plane, even though the damn thing went out of service years ago. The plane had been his foster father's, who had purchased it from the Osean Navy rather than watch it be decommissioned and turned to scrap or something. His father had given it to Skylar in his will before he died of cancer ten years earlier. He'd been 16. Since then he modified the crap out of it so it could stand up to an F-22 or an Su-37 and Su-30 if need be, and even beat them, but wasn't sure if it actually had that capability. For the reason that it was an heirloom, he'd never take it into actual combat. He'd rather fly his phantom at that point. "_Skylar, it's time to head back."_ he heard trigger say over their private comm channel.

"Wilco." Skylar replied and slid the throttle forward and into the afterburner. The plane shook for a second as the afterburner lit and the plane surged forward as Skylar rolled it on to it's right side and pulled hard. The fun thing about the modifications to this plane was that it liked to break the sound barrier in turns and while climbing. He took a quick glance at his fuel gauge and saw he still had three-quarters of his fuel load left. He chuckled to himself as he pulled out of the turn and leveled off. Trigger was struggling to keep up with him, and he could only chuckle to himself as his plane hit fifteen hundred knots. The engine he had used to replace the old one was an engine he'd built himself, and it was much more fuel efficient than the one that'd been in the plane. Hell, it was more fuel efficient than any other plane in the Osean air force if he thought about it. The only problem was that after even one flight, it took three hours to bring it back up to his standard of pristine, which was more than pristine. It took a lot of work, and considering that he was always improving it, he needed to start working making the damn thing actually hold itself together when it was pushed past mach two. But that was something he'd worry about later.

"_Slow down you crazy bastard! You know this thing can't keep up with you!"_

"It's also all the base has besides trainers. I offered you my Phantom to fly and you didn't take it." Skylar replied as he eased the throttle back out of burner.

"_I didn't think I'd need it! Really regretting that decision right about now! What engine does that even have? It sure as hell ain't stock!"_ Trigger exclaimed as she pulled up off his right wing.

"Custom built. Designed specifically for the airframe and fuel efficiency, even while the afterburner is in use."

"_How the hell does that work?"_

"I came across it by accident. I just wanted a better engine."

"_Ugh, remind me to have you build some engines for any aircraft I may fly once we ship out."_

"You know that the ground crews will try to not let me anywhere near any aircraft but mine for maintenance right?"

"_Sorry, I kinda forgot."_

"Trigger, I know you're not a blonde, but sometimes you act like one."

"_Screw you!"_

"Later."

"_Ugh…" _Trigger groaned. "_We're coming back up on the base."_

"Roger." Skylar replied as he hit the right rudder and then jerked the stick back into his lap, bringing the aircraft on the brink of a stall before the plane flipped onto it's side and dropped it's nose toward the ground and increased it's speed.

"_Skylar you crazy bastard! Don't do that! You just gave me a fucking heart attack!"_ Trigger yelled as Skylar leveled off on an instant approach to the airstrip and eased his throttle back as he engaged the wing's angle elevation function as he brought his nose up.

"I'm fine. I know this plane like the back of my own hand. I had to update the internal structure three years ago along with the fly-by-wire system 'cause this is one of the few that has it these days that still flies."

"_Wait, that Crusader has fly-by-wire? I thought those were only test aircraft?"_

"This thing _was_ one of the fly-by-wire test aircraft." Skylar replied as the tires of his landing gear screeched as they touched down on the runway's pavement and Skylar hit the breaks, which deployed the custom air brakes that Skylar had installed in the tops of the wings and on either side of the engine in front of the elevators.

Trigger was just touching down just as Skylar was taxiing off the runway and toward the hangars. It took her about eight minutes to get to where he'd parked his Crusader, which was just starting to be refueled as she stopped her F-16F alongside it. Skylar was leaning against the side of his plane's engine intake with a high quality wireless gaming headset over his ears that he took with his just about everywhere. The headband, while cushioned, was custom made to fit under his black Australian style hat, which he wasn't wearing, cause it was sitting in his dorm. But he used the headset for music as well as gaming, but mostly music. He was gazing up at the sky, but as Trigger approached, he tapped the screen of his phone, pausing the music before he took the headphones off his ears. "Something you want to talk to me about?" He asked calmly.

"Yeah." Trigger answered and then gestured dramatically at his plane. "Hell the hell was she able to do that? She's older than the F-16 I was flying and your Phantom. And neither of them can do that kind of maneuver, but I still have yet to see the capabilities of the modifications you put on that Phantom of yours."

Skylar chuckled before he looked up at the wing of his plane. "She belonged to my dad. He flew her often for testing after she received her fly-by-wire upgrade."

Trigger stepped back in shock. Skylar's never talked about his family, even to her, his best friend. "And what happened to him."

Skylar looked her dead in the eyes with a completely blank facial expression and said one. Word, "Cancer." before he gazed back up to the sky, slid his headphones back on, and pressed play.

Trigger took two steps back this time at the one word. Now she understood why he didn't fly this plane as much. It was highly likely that he only flew her when he wanted to think about his dad, so Trigger left him to his thoughts and headed toward the base as her F-16F was being refueled and prepped to be brought back into her and Skylar's hangar.

Skylar sighed and stood there for a few minutes before the ground crew signalled to him that they'd finished refueling. So Skylar gave them a thumbs up to take her back to the hangar. Skylar walked alone to his quarters without so much as a sound coming from his vocal cords. He entered his room in silence and then walked over his desk and pulled out his gun cleaning kit before unholstering his Metaba Six .44 Magnum auto-revolver and began field-stripping the weapon. It only took him ten minutes to complete the weapon maintenance before he put the weapon back together, holstered it, grabbed an extra box of .44 magnum ammunition, and left the room, closing the door behind him. He was headed to the base's firing range. And while he'd rather have his old rifle, he couldn't bring that on a plane. He spent an hour putting holes into eight inch square targets at forty and fifty meters with groupings all within one to three inches. After that hour, he collected his spent casings and then walked back to his room to clean his weapon and reload the casings.

Oof

Four months later, about two weeks after graduation. Both Trigger and Skylar are stationed at Fort Grays Island, and were in the middle of their first dogfight.

"_Trigger break hard right, missile right on your tail!"_ Skylar called out and Trigger rolled her brand new F-16F to the right and pulled the stick into her lap.

The missile streaked past just close enough for the proximity fuse to blow, but the shrapnel from the exploding warhead didn't do anything other than scratch the paint. Trigger continued the turn and set the offending enemy fighter into her crosshairs as she pulled the trigger for a split second. The M61 Vulcan 20mm cannon mounted in the wing root of her plane unleashed a torrent of rounds that ripped right through the offending MiG-21's wing and fuselage.

Skylar had two enemy fighters on his tail, but he rolled into the clouds. As the two MiG-21s flew out of the clouds, Skylar shot out of the cloud bank behind them and shredded them both with a short burst each from his Phantom's own M61 Vulcan. Both cockpits were peppered with shells as the fuselages and wings began to go up in flames. Skylar banked hard right as he spotted a missile coming onto his six and pulled eight gs in the turn, his cannon spitting rounds at his next victim, which impacted all along the fuselage and sent the now burning plane tumbling toward the blue waters below. He handled the fighters for the most part, while Trigger handled the bombers. It was besides the point that she got at least three fighter kills in retaliation for them shooting at her. But Skylar already had eight kills, all fighters, which made him more of an ace than she was.

"_Trigger, you better step it up! Mage Three's getting all the fighters! He's not even saving any for us!"_ Clown relayed over the comms.

"Mage One, this is Mage Two, Mage Three and I have an agreement, I deal with the bombers while he deals with the fighters." Trigger stated as she watched Skylar in his Phantom scream past her as she pursued a bomber and let loose a burst of cannon shells that met the tail and wing of one of the bomber's escorts, causing the engine to explode and the right wing to rip right off. Then the Phantom deployed it's airbrakes and cut it's throttle. The once lit afterburner cans became dark as the plane's nose pitched up, causing the plane to perform a post-stall maneuver, not quite a pugachev's cobra, but as close as the modified phantom could make. As the Phantom fell into position off of Trigger's left wing, it leveled off and the afterburners were once again lit as it's pilot fired a controlled snapshot with it's guns and the bomber's other escort went down in flames, minus a vertical tailfin and with a flaming engine. Then the Phantom broke off in search of it's next victim as Trigger fired two missiles into the bomber, sending it down into the ocean in a flaming ruin.

"_I see why Mage Three's instructors called him an aerial sniper. He has marksmanship like I've never seen, and he turns off the automatic lead function and just uses an unmoving gunsight."_ Knocker stated.

"Skylar's one of the old dogs. He prefers the guns on guns dogfights during the old days. Which is part of the reason his other aircraft is a Crusader."

"_I dread what would happen to the enemy if he flew that thing during a combat mission. Knocker, have you seen the upgrades on that relic of his?"_

"_We were around for that tournament of his. If he'd had the plane actually armed, he would have cut that entire school's roster to pieces. We got gun camera footage where he would have hammered the cockpits of the school's top aces during the final rounds."_

Trigger winced at that as she flew through a cloud, trying to intercept a new bomber formation and spotted the bomber's escorts already falling out of the sky and the wing contrails of a plane breaking hard in a turn. '_Good ol' Skylar, cutting up enemy fighters like he's chopping onions on his day to cook.'_ she thought as she selected her AMRAAMs and let loose with a pair of missiles. "Mage Two to Mage Three, you're making this shit way too easy for me."

"_Just another day in the office sweetheart!"_ Was his reply, making Trigger blush. He really only called her that when he was teasing. "_Missiles incoming by the way."_ He stated firmly, causing Trigger to break hard and pop flares. But her break wasn't quick enough and the flares only had an effect on the first of the two, meaning the second was radar guided. Then Skylar shot past in his Phantom, flying so close and so fast past the missile that his afterburners scorched the radar seeker head and caused it to spiral out of control before it's proximity fuse, realizing that something had flown past it, exploded. Both pilots were well out of the blast radius, and Trigger was breathing hard. She had nearly died just then, and was lucky she had a hotshot markman for a wingman.

"Thanks Skylar."

"_No problem, you need to learn to watch your six more often."_ He stated as he broke off and flew back into the fight.

Trigger sighed. She wasn't used to flying in actual combat yet, and her missile alerts weren't working. Skylar's warnings had already saved her life six times today, and he'd just saved her again, this time going so far as to disable the enemy missile before it could follow her into the turn. She hated to admit it, but he was much better at this than she was, always checking his six, and her own, while simultaneously dogfighting in close quarters. His natural ability was even more prominent than her own, like he was born to fly.

"_Mage Two, Mage Three, mission complete. Well done, return to base for debriefing."_ Their AWACS, Callsign: Skykeeper, relayed to them.

"_Aw come on! I was just about to finish off their last fighter!"_

Skykeeper chuckled. "_Mage Three, you are now the top pilot in the squadron, I think you can give that last pilot just a bit of mercy."_

"_I guess you're right."_

"_Clown, I want to know what this kid could do if he got his hands on an F-22 or some sort of superfighter like the ADFX-01 Morgan from the Belkan War." _Skykeeper stated.

"_I don't even want to think it!" _Knocker replied.

"_Yeah, the kid's already a force to be reckoned with. With hardware like that, I reckon he'd be unstoppable, Trigger too. The pair of them work together like a well oiled machine. If we all believe what we saw today, we can all agree they'd have a pretty good chance of winning the war all on their own."_

"_I think so too Clown."_ Knocker replied. "_Now let's get these birds on the ground so maintenance can take a look at them. Course, Mage Three's gonna drive them away from his and Mage Two's planes like he did when they first arrived. Hell, he did the maintenance of his Phantom and then took one of our F-16s back to the base to pick up his Crusader."_

"He didn't want to leave her behind." Trigger stated as the landing gear of her F-16 touched down onto the runway with a screech. Skylar followed close behind, making a graceful landing that was much quieter and smooth to the point that he'd have won a competition. "That old plane is his greatest treasure, and he'd never let anyone touch either of our planes. Clown, you've seen the condition he keeps them in, he works harder than the standard ground crew and he does a much better job even though he's on his own."

"_Yeah, I've watched him work. He's quick, efficient, and he has a rhythm everyone seems to lack. Hell, he's even got a rhythm in the air. But it's not a constant one, it changes and flows like a river at the speeds of rapids. It makes him unpredictable." _Brownie cut in, sounding slightly embarrassed.

"Brownie, be careful with him. He'll break your heart if you try too hard. So many women tried to gain his attention back in flight school, and he shot them down just as mercilessly as he shot down those enemy fighters today."

"_I'll be okay Trigger."_ Brownie replied. "_I heard stories about that already. Besides, I think he prefers you over me."_

Trigger blushed as she taxied to her fighter's designated hangar. Skylar was by no means unattractive. He was actually very handsome and it showed in how many girls had tried for him. But his personality is what really makes him worth the effort if anyone were to succeed. Not to mention the fact he's extremely loyal to his friends.

-Oh shit-

Skylar chuckled to himself as he listened in to the conversation. "You know Brownie, I consider both you and Trigger good friends. Whether you want to pursue a closer relationship is up to you two." He stated.

"_Damnit! I forgot we were on the same channel!"_ Brownie exclaimed as Trigger squeaked in embarrassment.

"Your mistake. Not mine." Skylar stated as he slipped his Phantom into place so it could be pulled into it's hangar alongside his Crusader and shut down the engines. Once it was hooked up and pulled into his hangar, he popped the canopy open and took off his helmet. Once his helmet was off, he began unbuckling himself from his ejector seat. When that was done, he slipped his helmet into his duffel and then climbed out of the cockpit and out onto the wing before dropping to the concrete below. He landed with a thud and stumbled a bit, but was otherwise fine. Just a little tired as he slung his duffel bag over his shoulder and walked out of the hangar. He was quickly flanked by both Trigger and Brownie, the former was apologizing, while the latter was blushing bright red as she walked silently, glancing furtively up at Skylar every thirty seconds or so. Not knowing really what to do. Skylar stopped and held his left hand up to stop Brownie's attempt at an apology.

"Brownie, it's okay. Really. Just ask me out for dinner or something when you get your thoughts together. The same goes for you Trigger, besides, you need to stop blushing, the other guys are gonna be teasing the crap out of you later, and i'd try your best to keep your embarrassment to yourself if you can. They'll rile you up otherwise." He stated with a chuckle. "You know well enough that's what I'd do if I wasn't the center of attention."

Trigger stamped her foot then and punched him in the shoulder, her cheeks getting even redder. Skylar stumbled, he wasn't expecting the hit and stumbled right into Brownie. Both of them lost their balance and fell, but Skylar's reflexes saved them both as he grabbed her and pulled a maneuver that caused her to land on him, breaking Brownie's fall rather than Brownie breaking Skylar's. Trigger gasped and held her hands over her mouth when they hit the ground.

"Are you guys okay?!" she exclaimed as Skylar groaned.

"I'll survive." Skylar stated. "You okay Brownie?"

Brownie sighed as she got off of Skylar. "Yeah, that trick you pulled to break my fall wasn't exactly something I expected to happen. But you are quite the gentleman in many aspects."

"If being a gentleman hurts this much, I don't want to be one anymore." Skylar joked as he sat up. Both Trigger and Brownie offered him a hand up, which he took gladly as they pulled him back up onto his feet. Trigger apologized profusely to both of them. Brownie took it in stride, while Skylar replied that he'd honestly deserved it. All three of them headed for the base's main building, which held both the offices, briefing rooms, living quarters, mess hall, and social areas. Everyone headed for the mess hall, since flying produced quite the appetite.


	2. Japanese Translator Needed

_**A/N:**_** Alright bois. So, I could use some help here. One, I need a secondary beta (cause i already have one, sorta) that can retype this thing in Japanese for me. the reason being is that i know that there's probably a huge Japanese fanbase, partially because Ace Combat is a Japanese franchise. Let me know if you've got the skills I need, and we can figure it out from there.**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Clash of the Predators

_"I am one with the skies, and the skies are one with me."_

_"My home is among the clouds, where all I can be is free."_

_"All of those who share this sky are welcome, but should they try to take it from me…"_

_"They better beat their wings with all their might."_

_"For I am the vengeful Angel of Death."_

_"And this is my freedom and my sky."_

_Such are the words of the companion of the Pilot With The Three Strikes, when challenged by the King of the Skies._

**Date: May 30th, 2019**

**Operation Duel Wielder**

Skylar rolled his Phantom out of the path of some drones gunfire. His plane wasn't hit, but it became dangerously close. He growled as he pulled the throttle all the way back and stalled his plane before ripping the offending drone in half with a half second burst from his gun. Then he let his plane's nose fall to the side before he shoved the throttle forward and lit the afterburners of the plane's twin engines. He dove straight for the deck and shot just about the treeline before he pulled up and let off two bursts from the gun as a mach cone formed around his aircraft and then broke behind him. His two targets fell out of the sky in flaming balls of molten scrap. He pulled back on the stick, spotting several allies with drones on their tails and swooped past, putting bursts into each of them with uncanny quickdraw accuracy.

_"Skylar, watch those drones, one of them almost had you there."_ he heard Trigger relay through the comms.

"The drones have the numbers, it makes them hard to deal with." Skylar replied as he shot past one of the drone formations and let loose with all four of his sidewinders. Four drones fell right out of the sky as Skylar banked right and launched his four AMRAAMs into another formation. He just needed to thin out their numbers so he could go back to his dogfights and do what he did best. That's when he heard that Brownie had gotten hit and was headed back to base with Gargoyle One. "Brownie? You alright?" he asked.

_"I'm okay, my plane's still intact and flying, but Knocker's ordered me to RTB."_

"A wise decision on his part." Skylar stated. "We'll keep these drones off your back while you retreat. Right Trigger?"

_"Damn right."_

"Alright then. Let's clean house!" Skylar exclaimed as he slammed his throttle all the way forward and into the afterburner. He broke hard right. He did his best to knock out the drones around the Arsenal Bird. His first victim was a UAV that he shot right past, spitting out a short burst from his 20mm. The shells shredded the left wing off at the root before he made a run at the Arsenal bird. He flew right along the wing at top speed from the port side, holding down the trigger the whole way. It didn't do any good to damage the top, his shells only made holes, but didn't cause much damage. He did notice a few spots that smoked, as if there was a fire starting within. He made another pass. But this time he whipped around and flew inverted under the Arsenal bird, performing the same move and causing several fuel leaks and destroying many mountings for the massive aircraft's drones.

Suddenly, explosions ripped through two of the support engines on the Arsenal Bird's port side and the main turboprop on the starboard side. The fuel tanks he'd perforated that had been smoking from his first run had caught fire, and he'd done enough damage to the fuel tanks below as well, to light the fuel leading to the starboard primary engine. Skylar instinctively held up his right arm to shield his face from the blast. It wasn't needed as he cleared it without any damage.

_"Way to go Mage 3! That'll make it think twice before it fights you again."_ Clown exclaimed.

_"Golem 2, Gargoyle 1, You have incoming, bandit confirmed."_

_"Gargoyle 1 down."_

_"Orange wing tips!" "I can't shake it off! It's matching me move for move!"_

"Shit!" Skylar exclaimed as he broke off from the drone he was about to attack with a roll and slammed the throttle to max and dove for the deck. "Skykeeper, I'm breaking off to support Golem 2. Mage 2, pick up the slack, I've got some business with a fellow predator."

_"Mage 3, return to your element. This isn't your fight!"_ Skykeeper ordered.

_"Mage 2 to Mage 3, go get that bastard, we'll handle this."_

"Skykeeper, this isn't a fight Golem 2 can win. I have a gut feeling that I can't shake off. So do me a favor and support the others. I'm a predator, and there's another predator out here, it's time he and I met." Skylar stated as a mach cone formed around his plane's fuselage and then folded back as the upgraded engines of his Phantom allowed the plane to punch right through the sound barrier like a bullet through paper. His plane roared right over the treeline, pulling at trees with it's slipstream. He was no longer paying attention to his HUD or any of his displays. He could feel the air flowing over his planes wings like it was an extension of himself, He could feel the other predator's presence getting rapidly closer and pulled back on the stick. But to him, he was pulling up, right towards his new enemy.

The pilot of the Su-30 saw the approaching contact and grinned. Maybe this one would provide more of a challenge. Suddenly, the new plane was upon him as a missile left it's rail off his plane's wing and caught a flare that was just close enough to his current victim that the plane was damaged more than it already was, but still flyable. Shrapnel entered the cockpit and struck Brownie's right thigh, hip, and shoulder, while the rest bounced off her helmet. She'd live, but she'd have a lot of trouble landing. The shrapnel had severely damaged the landing gear and jammed the doors shut.

The pilot of the Su-30 just barely saw the flash of the heavily modified Phantom's 20mm cannon and pulled away just a split second too late as cannon rounds stitched up his left wing and just clipped his left elevator. Then the Phantom was gone, it's Mach 2.4 passage sucking the Su-30 into it's jet-wash, causing a spinning stall that actually saved the Su-30. The Phantom had climbed rapidly and cut it's throttle, purposefully stalling in the process because of the lack of thrust pushing the plane to higher altitudes. The Phantom then fell backward until it's nose was pointed directly toward the spinning Su-30, which was in the middle of it's recovery. The Su-30's nose dipped and the pilot lit it's afterburners in an attempt to escape. The Su-30 was now more prey than predator as the Phantom dove on it. The Su-30 managed to pick up enough speed to pull itself out of the spin and into a dive. Notably, an Su-30 is not as fast as an F-4 Phantom, even in a dive, and the Phantom quickly caught up with the more agile aircraft, which pulled a Pugachev's Cobra in an attempt to evade the older plane. The gamble worked, sorta. The Phantom lost it's bearings, but that didn't mean the Su-30 was out of danger. The Su-30 pilot's HUD flashed with warnings; his hydraulic fluid was at critical levels. He checked his wing and could see some fluid leaking from a couple of the holes the 20mm shells made. It was time for the Su-30 to return to base, or at least an allied air base.

But the Phantom wasn't having any of it. It had dove for the deck and then looped around back toward its opponent. It's pilot was obviously one not to give up until they'd taken down their opponent. Then suddenly, it turned away and the Su-30's pilot breathed an internal sigh of relief. The pilot wracked their brain, trying to remember the range for the F-4J Phantom back when it was still in use. This one had obviously been upgraded, to what extent they didn't know, but the maneuverability was obviously upgraded, as was the range. They couldn't come up with anything specific, and so they turned home to lick their wounds. They had met a fellow predator today, and it was likely they would meet again.

Skylar growled to himself in anger. He knew he'd disobeyed orders and it wouldn't do him any good to disobey another, plus he was low on fuel. "Brownie, you're all clear. I can stay with you and escort you home if you like." Skylar told Brownie over the radio. He could hear her labored breathing and could see the damage the missile had dealt as he flew just off and under her right wing. "Keep it together sheila. I'll get you home." He whispered before he keyed his microphone. "Mage 3 to group, I managed to keep the Su-30 from getting Golem 2 and drove him off, but she took a hit from a missile that blew up a flare too close to her plane. I can hear labored breathing on her end, which means she's alive, but hurt. With your permission, I will escort her home."

_"Skykeeper to Mage 3, permission granted. But you're grounded until further notice due to disobeying a direct order. You know the rules. But off the record, thanks for saving her life."_

"She may not make it quite yet. I can see some of the damage is centered around the bottom of the fuselage and much of it seems to have been dealt to the landing gear their bay doors. If her gear doesn't lower, she'll be belly flopping it in. You know how dangerous that is."

_"Copy that. Let's cross our fingers and hope for the best."_

Here he comes. Dr. Shroeder thought to himself as he heard the incoming Su-30. But something's different. There was something hidden in the sounds of the plane's engines. Shroeder stood up straight to gaze at the plane. Then he saw the fluids leaking from the left wing. What the hell happened? His suit obviously didn't protect him, but this was worse than usual. He asked himself as he gazed at the damage the plane had sustained. Mihaly taxied the plane into position next to the rest of Sol Squadron's planes and opened the canopy. He was gasping for air and coughing hard as his daughters helped him from the plane and gave him an oxygen mask. He looks like he went through hell itself. But… he's smiling? Shroeder was confused. He'd never seen that look in his eyes, or that smile. He encountered something new. A new pilot to challenge him perhaps? Shroeder knew that Mihaly was an airborne predator, but something must have changed his usually emotionless demeanor. Something only he could take pleasure in finding, and that could only be a new rival.

One Mihaly had recovered, he gazed up at the sky, his usually dull eyes glittering with excitement and anticipation. "When you and I next meet, my fellow lord of the skies, we will have a true duel. He thought to himself.

Later that evening Mihaly reminisced about the dogfight. He'd been playing with a Osean F-18, when his radar detected an oncoming craft, approaching fast. It arrived much too quickly for him to make much of a reaction, and he was damaged in the fighter's opening burst of cannonfire. The plane had been a heavily upgraded F-4E Phantom II, but it's capabilities were unlike any Phantom he had encountered before. It was more of a match for him than any other he had encountered before. The pilot was aggressive and flew like the plane wasn't even an object, but his own body. He took advantage of every capability his aircraft had and more, using it's enhanced speed and maneuverability to the limits of the airframe during the brief engagement. But what Mihaly noted specifically, was that the Phantom hadn't launched any missiles whatsoever, and used only his guns. Mihaly recalled several bursts that had nearly hit his aircraft during the engagement, and that he had just barely managed to stay ahead of them. He said that this pilot had pushed him to his limit with unorthodox tactics and aggressive maneuvers in an inferior aircraft. But while he told the story, Mihaly couldn't help but let the ghost of a smile show on his face.

Skylar sat on his bed, spinning one of his many knives over his fingers like a pen. He didn't regret his actions. He'd saved Brownie's life after all. Her landing had been really rough and she dislocated her left shoulder and fractured her left shin in addition from her shrapnel wounds. She lost a lot of blood as well, but the emergency crews managed to get her out of the plane. Luckily, fuel leaks had drained the tanks enough that the plane didn't explode on the runway, but the plane wouldn't be flying ever again, and judging by her injuries, Brownie wouldn't be flying either. If she was lucky she may get to fly again, but that was a very slim possibility. It was obvious to everyone that his actions had saved her life, but he'd disobeyed orders. Something he'd never outright done. Sure he'd done stuff that bent the rules, but he always got off on technicalities. He wasn't stupid. But this was a whole new level, even if it was done for the right reason. He'd heard of cases of soldiers disobeying orders and becoming heros as a result, but it was rare. He was more likely to be punished than commended. That's when he heard a knock on his room's door. "Come in."

The door opened and Trigger walked in. "Brownie's gonna be okay. But at this stage they don't know how well she'll recover." She said as she stepped up to his bed and sat down next to his feet.

"That's good news."

"The surviving members of Gargoyle Squadron want you court martialled, saying that we wouldn't have lost as many pilots as we did if you hadn't flown off. But SkyKeeper, Knocker, and Clown are defending you. Saying that if you hadn't flown to Brownie's aid, she'd have been killed. Personally I believe the latter. They were already taking heavy losses before you left to help Brownie."

"I honestly don't care. My friends are my family. You attack one of them, you earn your place among my list of enemies. That pilot... He knew there was something about me. He behaved like a cat playing with it's food when he was fighting Brownie. But when I arrived… he became serious, even though he was on the defensive." Then Skylar closed his eyes and smiled. "We'll meet again. Predator." He whispered to himself.

**A/N: Alright people, here's your second chapter. It's shorter than the first, but that's because it's a bit of a filler, as well as something i've been itching to do since I started this story. Besides, i wanted to get it out so you guys weren't waiting literally forever for the next chapter.**


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